Can a man transmit Hepatitis C sexually or kissing after being treated for 11 months and had HCV test negativ?

The use of the word "cure" for Hepatitis C is very controversial. With pegylated interferon therapy and Ribavirin treatment, many people can ERADICATE the virus, meaning the HCV RNA viral load is not detectable with the most sensitive assay. Some hepatologists consider this a "cure" while others are hesitant to use that word. Once treatment is completed, you typically have an HCV viral load test 6 months after completing therapy. If there is no detectable virus, then you have achieved a sustained viral response or SVR. This is very indicative of long term clearance of the virus. HCV antibodies can still be detectable, even after the virus has been cleared. A standard HCV antibody screening test would still be positive and life insurance companies may still consider you infected as a result of positive antibody tests. However, the long term risk of fibrosis and cirrhosis are dramatically reduced if not eliminated.





There are reports of sexual transmission of HCV, but it is a very low liklihood. In fact, the CDC does not make any specific recommendations regarding safe sex between partners with different HCV status.





From CDC website: "If you have one long-term, steady sex partner, there is a very low chance of giving HCV to that partner and you do not need to change your sexual practices. If you want to lower the small chance of spreading HCV to your sex partner, you may decide to use latex condoms. (The efficacy of latex condoms in preventing infection with HCV is unknown, but their proper use may reduce transmission.) Ask your doctor about having your sex partner tested."

Can a man transmit Hepatitis C sexually or kissing after being treated for 11 months and had HCV test negativ?
first of all HCV is cured now in over 50% of cases by modern therapy. Some of your readers obviously are not very educated. Secondly, HCV is probably never transmitted by kissing and rarely if ever transmitted sexually. Indeed, if you check the CDC (center for disease control) website it recommends no special precautions for sexual contact amongst monogamous couples even if HCV test is positive. I feel that HCV probably is transmitted RARELY via sexual transmission, but on the order of 1% of the time. Hep B on the other hand is commonly transmitted sexually. You can only consider yourself cured if you tested negative six months after your therapy has ended.





Mrfrndly would do well to stay out of the health field questions particularly with regards to hepatitis---obviously not very knowledable in this field
Reply:There is no cure for hepatitis C.